News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-11-17
"He got me cup of coffee at York, u
answered the girl readily.
"Do you know his name?"

| l1S SOI 1lIC q Sul VI COAASO "b AS4AJ
answered the girl readily.
"Do you know his name?"
"No."
COR his business ?"
'No. He was quite stranger to me.
You talked together good deal?"
''Yes, good deal.
"And you told him who you were
and who was in the next compartment
''No, indeed %
"Did you say or hint that valuable
were entrusted to you?''
"Never; / am certain of it. "
"After you had the coffee did you fal
asleep ?'
"After we left York I remember clos
ing my eyes, but 1 did not fall asleep
And L had my elbow on the jewel case
then"
'You dozed, then, or at least rested
with your eyes shut am not blaming
you, it was very natural on long night
journey-till you got to Newcastle?"
-''No; till we got to Darlington"
"Did you feel very heavy and sleepy
then?'.
''Not more SO than usual after night
journey"
Gone more question. This young man
would you know him again? What
was he hke2''
''Tall and fair, with slight whiskers
and mustache. He wore a dark-gray
overcoat. 1 should know him again in
moment"
Here my examination ended. Already
had formed a theory on the subject
Alice Wright, [ fancied, was innocent
Her quiet, composed manner had i'm.
pressed me in spite of myself. My be-
lief was that the polite young getleman
was professional thief, that he had
followed Lady Pinkerton from her house
in London, that he had guessed at the
nature of the receptacle which the maid
was guarding so jealously, that the coffee
he had brought her was drugged $50
that, instead of being in half doze, she
had been in deep sleep between York
and Darlington), and that the jewel-case
had been opened with a pick-lock,
robbed and closed again while she was
sleeping.
Next morning Lord Pinkerton arrived
at the castle, and [ suggested that a re-
ward should be offered for the recovery
of the diamonds or for information. To
my surprise, the viscount seemed I'M
willing to offer substantial reward,
argued that large rewards only tempted
thieves to commit fresh robberies, and
ended by positively refusing to offer a
larger sum than fifty pounds for the re-
covery of the Jewels. | concluded that
his lordship was inclined to be stingy,
and afterward learned that he was, in
fact, notorious miser. In his younger
days he had been very extravagant, but
about two years after his marriage he
had come into possession of large for
tune on the death of a relative, and the
effect of his good luck was that he de-
veloped, very much to Lady Pinkerton s
disgust, strong miserly tendencies.
My next care was to make a rough
drawing of the missing jewels from Lady
Pinkerton's description. My sketch was
not by any means so accurate as I could
have wished, as her ladyship's descrip-
ton was rather vague, and she seemed
to have no idea of drawing 1 then
should keep Alice Wright under an in
formal surveillance, and returned to
London.
Not many days after my return to town
I was informed by the Edinburgh police
that they believed they had succeeded
III tracing the young man who had trav-
elled in the same carriage with Alice
Wright ON the night of the robbery.
He was staying at one of the hotels in
the city, and called himself Charles
Payne The telegram added that Payne
held himself out to be medical stu
dent, and that he seemed to be on the
point of returning to London. replied
that strict watch must be kept on his
movements, and shortly aftcrward was
told that he might be expected to arrive
in London by a certain train. Of course
he was met upon his arrival by one of
my men, who followed him to his lodg-
ings. l then telegraphed to Lady Pink
erton and desired her to send her maid
up to town in the company of police
man in plain clothes. This was done,
and I had no difficulty in arranging that
Miss Wright and I should meet Charles
Payne one morning as he left his rooms
for the day.
We passed close to him, and watch
ed his face as we met. / had instructed
the girl to bow slightly as he went by.
She did so, and he raised his hat with
smile, throwing a glance at me as he
did so. There was no doubt about his
identity. turned round, touched him
on the arm, told him [ was a detective
officer, and asked him to go back with
me to his rooms. He did so at once,
and admitted readily that he had travel
led to Edinburgh on the night in ques-
ton and that from York to Newcastle he
and Alice Wright had been alone to-
gether in the carriage; but he indig
nantly denied all knowledge of the dia-
monds. He furnished me with numerous
references and consented that police
man should wait with him in his room
till the references conuld be verified.
A little shaken in my opinion
by his readiness to submit to
this arrangement [ called ON the
gentlemen he had named and
found that they all knew Charles Payne
and had had the highest opinion of his
One or two of them, indeed,
offered to become bail for him to any
extent. This put a totally different
upon matters. Payne was
not professional thief, and
only professional thief-and very
clever one, too-could have operated
upon Alice Wright and the iewel-case in
the way my theory had supposed he had
DONE There was no evidence against
the young man and [ gave up the idea
Of placing him under arrest.
Six weeks passed, bringing no tidings
Of the stolen property, and L had begun
20 look upon the case as one of my fail
Tres. Lady Pinkerton had returned to
own, and when 1 reported to her my
to recover her property she
to have become resigned to her
oss.
I happened one morning shortly after |
his to be in the shop of one of those !
West End jewelers. who are, in reality, !
swell pawnbrokers, when the jeweler |
said to me:
"By the way, pair of earrings were
offered to me the other day which | !
might have fancied were part of Lady
set. [ half thought of de |
.aiEing the lady and sending for you"
''And why didn't youl' [ interrupted, |
almost angrily.
because the things were not di- |
lmOnds at all-they We're only paste"
HaSUe linen tney can nave been |
Lady Pinkerton's-but are you quite
jure 2"
Perfectly sure. They were paste, but
/ very good imitation.
[ pondered the matter for a moment. !
Gould the thief have taken out the
tones, replaced them by imitation bril-
iants, and then tried to pass off the false |
tones as real ones by means of the set
ing? Possibly; but on the other hand,
he setting was the very thing which
ny thief must have known might lead
0 his detection.
'Who offered you the trinkets p I